Branden Albert comes crawling back to Jaguars, gets turned away

Offensive tackle Branden Albert, who was traded from the Dolphins to the Jaguars this offseason, retired abruptly July 31 after appearing to lose his spot as the probable starter to Jags second-round (34th overall) pick Cam Robinson.

In fact, the loss of prestige was so stark that prominent Jags blog Black and Teal didn’t mince words, saying:

“First, Branden Albert looked washed up in his only week of real practices. He was beaten like a drum by Dante Fowler Jr., a guy who would probably be on the roster bubble if he didn’t have a first round pedigree. He was so ineffective in drills that it seemingly drove him to retirement.”

As “Mike and Mike” pointed out on ESPN Tuesday morning, Albert’s two-year contract that the Jags got from Miami in the trade for a 2018 seventh-round draft pick, while on paper worth $8.8 million this year and $9.5 million next, is not guaranteed; with Albert set to eat up $18.3 million in cap space while not even starting ahead of a rookie, it is in Jacksonville’s best interests to let Albert make their decision for them, cut him and let some other team sort out how much (and by “how much” the smart money’s on a lot less than $18 million over two years and more like the veteran minimum) to pay him.

Sportrac has Robinson penciled in with a rookie-scale four-year, $7.02 million contract. The team has every incentive to start him if he is up to the task.

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More important for the Jags from a financial point of view? They can recover $3.4 million from Albert if they want to push the point, because that is two-fifths of the prorated $8.5 million signing bonus Albert received when he signed the five-year deal with the Dolphins in 2014 that is the contractual point-of-issue in this retirement tale.

Since being drafted 15th overall by the Chiefs in 2008, Albert has been injury-prone; the last time he played a full season was in 2011. Despite this, Albert has made the Pro Bowl twice, in 2013 and 2015. But in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately NFL, 2015 might as well be the era of leather helmets and steak and cigarettes in the postgame spread with Jack Webb playing Joe Friday on the clubhouse TV.

On Tuesday, the Jaguars made their decision: They moved Albert’s status from “left team” to “reserve-retired.”